Analysis of Away, Away, Ye Notes Of Woe!

George Gordon Lord Byron 1788 (London) – 1824 (Missolonghi, Aetolia)



Away, away, ye notes of woe!
Be silent, thou once soothing strain,
Or I must flee from hence--for, oh!
I dare not trust those sounds again.
To me they speak of brighter days
But lull the chords, for now, alas!
I must not think, I may not gaze,
On what I am--on what I was.

The voice that made those sounds more sweet
Is hush'd, and all their charms are fled
And now their softest notes repeat
A dirge, an anthem o'er the dead!
Yes, Thyrza! yes, they breathe of thee,
Beloved dust! since dust thou art;
And all that once was harmony
Is worse than discord to my heart!

'Tis silent all!--but on my ear
The well remember'd echoes thrill;
I hear a voice I would not hear,
A voice that now might well be still:
Yet oft my doubting soul 'twill shake;
Even slumber owns its gentle tone,
Till consciousness will vainly wake
To listen, though the dream be flown.

Sweet Thyrza! waking as in sleep,
Thou art but now a lovely dream;
A star that trembled o'er the deep,
Then turn'd from earth its tender beam.
But he who through life's dreary way
Must pass, when heaven is veil'd in wrath,
Will long lament the vanish'd ray
That scatter'd gladness o'er his path.

December 6, 1811.


Scheme AXAXBXBX CDCDEFEF GHGHIJIJ KLKLMNMN X
Poetic Form
Metre 01011111 11011101 11111111 11111101 11111101 11011101 11111111 11111111 01111111 11011111 01110101 011101001 1111111 0111111 01111100 11110111 11011111 01010101 11011111 01111111 11110111 101011101 11001101 11010111 1110101 11110101 011101001 11111101 11111101 111101101 11010101 11011011 010
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,146
Words 222
Sentences 16
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8, 1
Lines Amount 33
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 178
Words per stanza (avg) 44
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 17, 2023

1:09 min read
132

George Gordon Lord Byron

George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, known simply as Lord Byron, was an English poet, peer and politician who became a revolutionary in the Greek War of Independence, and is considered one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement. He is regarded as one of the greatest English poets and remains widely read and influential. Among his best-known works are the lengthy narrative poems Don Juan and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage; many of his shorter lyrics in Hebrew Melodies also became popular. He travelled extensively across Europe, especially in Italy, where he lived for seven years in the cities of Venice, Ravenna, and Pisa. During his stay in Italy he frequently visited his friend and fellow poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Later in life Byron joined the Greek War of Independence fighting the Ottoman Empire and died of disease leading a campaign during that war, for which Greeks revere him as a national hero. He died in 1824 at the age of 36 from a fever contracted after the First and Second Siege of Missolonghi. His only legitimate child, Ada Lovelace, is regarded as a foundational figure in the field of computer programming based on her notes for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine. Byron's illegitimate children include Allegra Byron, who died in childhood, and possibly Elizabeth Medora Leigh.  more…

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